Presentation of Orléans

The city of Orléans (116,559 inhabitants (260,000 inh.
when including the outskirts) is located on the river Loire, 115 km
south of Paris.

In the Gaul time, the city of Canubium was in the center of
the Carnutes' country and the druids had an annual meeting there. The
revolt against the Roman occupation started there in 52 BC. In 451,
the city under the protection of Bishop St. Aignan resisted
victoriously Attila's Huns.
During the Xth and XIth centuries, Orléans was one of the
centers of the young Capetian monarchy, the two other centers being
Chartres and Paris.
Orléans is famous for the siege of 1428-1429 during the
Hundred Years' War and the intervention of
Joan of Arc (a.k.a. as la pucelle d'Orléans,
pucelle being a familiar term for a virgin). The Joan of Arc's
festival (Fêtes Johanniques) has been commemorating
these events each spring since 1435 except during wartime. On 7 May,
the "very authentic standard of Joan of
Arc" is presented to the population.

Orléans is the birth city of the poet and polemist Charles
Péguy (1873-1914), who was in the same time Dreyfusard,
humanitarian Socialist, patriot (he died during First World War) and
fervent Roman Catholic.

Orléans is also known for rose gardening and its forest.

There have been four princely houses of Orléans. The second
house (Orléans-Valois) is famous for the poet
Charles d'Orléans (1394-1465)
and his son Louis II (1462-1515), King of France as Louis XII
(1498-1515). The fourth house of Orléans
(Orléans-Bourbon) is famous for Philippe II
(1674-1723), a.k.a. le Régent(1715-1723, during the
minority of Louis XV), Louis-Philippe Joseph (1747-1793), a.k.a.
Philippe-Egalité, who voted the death of Louis XVI and
was himself guillotinized later on, and his son Louis-Philippe II
(1773-1850), King of the French as Louis-Philippe I (1830-1848).
Henri d'Orléans (b. 1903), Count of Paris and
Orléaniste pretender to the throne of France, recently
passed away. The members of the Orléans family are buried in
the Royal Chapel of Dreux, not far from Versailles.

Municipal flag of Orléans

The ceremonial flag of Orléans, as communicated to Pascal Vagnat by the municipal administration, is vertically divided yellow-red with the municipal coat of arms placed in the middle of the flag.

On the coat of arms, the three white charges are coeurs-de-lis
(lily hearts). The use of coeurs-de-lis in Orléans
dates back to the XVth century, and is probably related to the
liberation of the city by Joan of Arc on 8 May 1429. The motto Hoc
vernant lilia corde can be translated as "this heart makes the
lilies flower". It dates back to the reign of Louis XI (1498-1515),
who was also Duke of Orléans. It refers to the spring of
France, blossoming again after the dark seasons of the Hundred Years'
War. The chief of France, azure with the three fleurs-de-lis or,
recalls that Orléans was among the 36 "good cities" (bonnes
villes) whose Mayor was invited to the Royal coronation ceremony.
The cross below the shield is the War Cross (1939-1945).

ADAS INRA, section of Orléans

INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) was founded in 1946. It has now c. 10,000 employees. The institute is a state agency
depending both on the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of
Scientific Research.

In France, private companies with more than 50 employees must have a
comité d'entreprise, whose members are elected by the staff and whose
budget is a mandatory percentage of the wage bill. The main function of
the comité d'entreprise is to arrange company-subsidized benefits for
the staff.
Being a state agency, INRA cannot have a comité d'entreprise. The
social function of the comité d'entreprise is provided by a
non-profit making association called Association pour le Développement
des Activités Sociales à l'INRA (ADAS INRA). Every INRA employee can
join the association for a small fee, most of the budget of ADAS being
allocated by INRA. Since INRA is geographically scattered all over
France (including Corsica, Guadeloupe and French Guiana), ADAS is
organized in local sections placed under the umbrella of national ADAS;
each section has its own statutes, budget and organization, which have
to fit the national ADAS statutes.
Every four years, membres of the ADAS section get together for an
event called Adayades; there are sport Adayades and cultural Adayaydes.
The last cultural Adayades took place in Aussois (in the Alps) last
winter. The event was reported in a special issue of the ADAS
newsletter, ADAS Info. A picture shows the vocal quartet from Orléans
performing on stage, in front of the banner of the local section of
Orléans.
The banner of the Orléans local section of ADAS is a vertical (25:10),
forked flag, vertically divided yellow-red, like the municipal flag of
Orléans, with the municipal coat of arms of Orléans near the top of the
flag, surmonting the writing, in gold letters: